Nintendo Posts $456 Million Operating Loss as Wii U Console Struggles

The video game specialist predicts a return to profitability for the current financial year, though its forecasts have been extremely optimistic recently.

TOKYO – Nintendo posted a bigger-than-expected operating loss of $456 million (￥46 billion) for the year to March, as sales of its Wii U console continued to disappoint.

The Kyoto-based video game maker saw global sales fall by more than 26 percent to $4.4 billion (￥448 billion), despite a somewhat better performance for the 3DS and 2DS handheld consoles, which shipped a combined 12.24 million units. Nintendo has forecast sales of another 12 million handheld consoles in the year to March 2015.

Nintendo's forecast for the current financial year is for sales of $5.8 billion (￥590 billion) and operating income of $392 million (￥400 billion), though the company has acquired a reputation for overly optimistic predictions.

Games on smartphones generated higher sales than those on Nintendo's and Sony's handheld consoles combined for the first time last year, a sign of the struggles facing the two Japanese game-makers. However, Sony's PlayStation 4 console has beaten expectations with sales of more than 7 million since its release in November.

Shares in Nintendo fell 2.7 percent to $104.74 (￥10,670) in Tokyo before the earnings announcement.